A Joke
by KurobaraIto
Summary: It was a joke. Even God said so.


"Imagine power. Imagine the strongest being you know, focus on the feeling of power, and grab it."

I followed Rias-buchou's instruction to awaken my Sacred Gear. Imagine power... I imagined shapeless aggregation of power swirling in my mind. Imagine the strongest being I know... If I thought of the strongest, then it would be... Son Goku. Slowly, the shapeless swirling power took the form of Son Goku's silhouette. Focus on the feeling of power... I can feel something stirring inside my heart. Grab it!

I opened my eyes. Something appeared on my palm. When I looked at it, it was a ten-faced dice. Numbered from one to ten in Roman numerals. Its color was red, with the numbers colored white.

"..."

"..."

Everyone in the clubroom fell silent at the sight of me holding a ten-faced dice.

"Ise..." Buchou looked at me pityingly.

"Ara-ara," Akeno-san spoke. "My condolences to you, Ise-kun."

Kiba just put his hand on my shoulder and smiled grimly while Koneko put down her snack and bowed her head.

What? Why does all of you look at me like that?!

"That Sacred Gear... its name is One-D-Ten. It's... a joke Sacred Gear. Even the creator said so."

"...I wanna cry now..."

If even the creator of said Sacred Gear, the almighty God-ouch! said that it was a joke... My life was truly a joke.

"However, Ise-kun. Even without your Sacred Gear, you can become stronger through hard work! Don't be discouraged, I will help train you!"

Buchou... I can feel my tears falling down on my cheeks. You are the best!

Though already putting aside my Sacred Gear like that made me feel even more useless...

* * *

"Asia!"

"Thank you for today, Ise-san. It's a fun day. I am glad," she smiled so beautifully. I want to see it more. More and more. I don't want to just hand her to the Fallen Angel like that!

I want power.

I want the power to help Asia. I want the power to stop the Fallen Angel!

A ten-faced dice appeared on my hand.

That was right. Buchou said this was a joke. Everyone pitied me.

"Stop there!"

"Huh? What would you try to do? You, a weakling. How would you stop me?" the Fallen Angel smirked at me. It really made me want to punch her in the face.

Bringing the One-D-Ten to my chest, the Fallen laughed seeing it.

"I was told you had dangerous Sacred Gear. One-D-Ten isn't though, haha!"

A tick mark surely appeared on my head if this was an anime. That was just how annoying hearing her speaking was.

"Let's just try!" Even if Buchou cast it aside, I asked how it works anyway, and it seemed that it bears fruit. I was going to use it.

Basically, it worked the way a ten-faced dice work. The higher number you get, the better. In this case, if I rolled seven or higher, my chance of winning would be increased. If I rolled three or lower, my chance of winning would be decreased, and if I rolled between them, then nothing unusual will happen.

I... can't exactly prayed to God-ouch! anymore since I am a Devil now.

But...

Even so...

If any being was capable to grant it, please let me help Asia!

I rolled the dice as I ran towards the girl who killed me in cold blood. Did I feel fear? Yes. Yes, I was trembling.

"Uuuuooooooooo!"

I ran with all my power. Then I suddenly trip.

"What?"

My feet got tangled up with each other?!

She just laughed at me. "Look at the dice, you stupid Devil."

I looked at the direction I threw it. One-D-Ten displayed one.

...

It was a crit fail?!

I laughed. This wasn't funny, but I laughed. That was how low of a joke my life was.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!"

I screamed at the empty sky, with tears blurring my vision.

Why? Why does it fail in the most critical moment?

"Well, this is a goodbye, Devil. It was nice playing dates with you."

With that, I felt her presence gone. Damn it. I punched the ground in frustration.

Damn it all.

Damn it to hell.

I understand now. I understand why One-D-Ten was considered a joke even by its creator. It was because it simply was a joke.

I stared hollowly at the dice on the ground. Somehow, it looked a little bit duller than when I first got it. Picking it up, I willed it to disappear.

"I promise I will be strong enough to not use it ever again."

* * *

I stood in front of my ex-girlfriend. After all the fiasco of breaking into the abandoned church, fighting some exiled exorcist, and witnessing Asia's death as her Sacred Gear was extracted from her, finally, we faced off.

"It's quite remarkable for a low-class Devil like you to face me like this. But nothing you can do.. nothing will work because I finally have Twilight Healing!"

I knew. I knew that Asia can't be brought back just because her Sacred Gear was returned to her. Even so, I don't want something that once used by a gentle soul to be used by a malicious person like her.

Seeing Asia used it to helped an injured boy... I couldn't believe there was a soul as gentle as her. That was why...

"I will not let you sully her name by using her Twilight Healing!"

"Too much talk is not good, devil!" She threw a spear made of light at me. The situation would be bad if I got hit by that. Not only it felt so painful, but too much exposure and we Devil would be erased from existence.

Such a dangerous weapon for Devils.

But as it came to me in a straight arc, I knew of a way to stop it. Summoning my Sacred Gear, I put it on my heart.

I knew I said I won't use it again. But well, I am a Devil, why would a promise to myself be important?

Hey, One-D-Ten. According to Buchou, you don't have any consciousness, unlike several Sacred Gear where some living beings were sealed into. However, please, just this one time, help me. Please help me pay back the selfless gentle soul who got wronged!

A thump. One-D-Ten didn't have any consciousness. But I can definitely feel a thump from it. A smile wormed its way onto my face. Yes. I believe you, my Sacred Gear.

"Promotion: Knight!"

I threw the dice at the oncoming spear of light. the spear was deflected, as was the dice.

"What?!"

And now to finish it in one go...

I ran with all my might. I don't need to see the result of the dice. I believe in it. I believe in the heart of the dice.

"Impossible! There's no record of One-D-Ten ever displayed ten!"

Huh? That was a nice trivia if a little bit out of place. Thank you for the information. I clenched my fist and punched her in the face.

Her unconscious body was thrown back several meters. You can have every healing power you want, however, if you can't cast it then you were done.

Finally, it was over...

I looked back at the dice. It displayed a ten. A critical, maybe? since the Fallen Angel said nobody had ever rolled a ten before. Huh, hey! With this, my name surely would be recorded in history.

Using my phone, I took a selfie with it. I was sure this would be a valuable treasure in the future.

* * *

 **A/N: Moral of the story is, always believe in the dice. The dice will never betray you, you just don't have enough faith.**


End file.
